The Literature, History, and Civilization of the Japanese [pp. 306-329]

1872.] OF THE JAPANESE. 321
inferior, they listen to you, press you with questions, beg for
advice, thank you warmly for your interest in their beloved
country. Speak to Mussulmans, Indians, Chinese of our
railroads, of our great manufacturies, of all our recent discoveries which are gradually changing the face of the globe;
and some of them, il~e Arabs, for example, will have no comprehension of your admiration and enHiusiasm, and will
think they have said everything when they answer "God is
great!" Others, the Chinese, perhaps, when you tell them
\vith what speed our locomotives run through space, carrying
commerce and riches everywhere, will answer that the
Emperor of China possesses some which run much faster,
but that he does not use them because Confucius has not
said that they are to be used. The grand epochs in the history of the modern nations, and especially of the Indians
and Chinese, belong to ancient history; il~ey furnished
their contingent to the woA~ of civilization hundreds and
thousands of years ago. The splendor of their ancient annals
invites them to look backward continually; they are like
Lot's wife. The Japanese, on the contrary, see in the past
only the claims coming from il~eir noble o~4gin: except for
this, it is nothing to them; ilie present is the beginning of a
fruitful era; the future is theirs.
EveryilAng is to be done in Japan, and is demanding to be
done. This is the best guaranty of the importance of the
closest relations between ourselves and tl)is empire of extreme
Asia. At the beginning of this century, physicians alone
were sure of being well received at Nagasaki, and con sequently at Jeddo. A doctor's dbAoma was an almost sure
passport through the whole leng~ of Niphon. While the
missionaries of Christ were persecuted, the disciples of )Lseulapius were received with friendly hands; and instead of the
punbshment which everywhere followed the steps of the apostles of the gospel, the propagators of therapeutics had nothing
to dread but a brevet ctd viiwn as physician to the emperor.
VII.
At present the conditions of a cordial reception for Euro